I'm a what? And I'm where?
by spiderlilly
Summary: All Dulcinea wanted to do was have a normal life. All she wanted was to graduate high school. But no, she needed to be trashed, kidnapped, zapped, and sent to Naruto's world as a fox. EH! A fox! What the heck is going on? no slash. Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first real attempt at a fic. I hope to make it through the end but I can't promise anything. I am not that knowledgeable in using the –chans, -kuns etc but will try. I plan to stay pretty close to the manga but will probably most likely end up AU very quickly. There will be no slash of any kind so don't ask. I already have ideas for pairings but suggestions are welcome, however that won't mean that I will actually do them. This takes place after the time jump. **

**I don't own anything but Dulcinea at this point…**

**Dulcinea: Really?!**

**Spiderlilly: Yes really, now go to your spot and get exhausted!**

**Dulcinea: Awwww already?**

**Spiderlilly: Yes already.**

**Dulcinea: Fine! (sticks out tongue and goes into fic)**

**In a heavily wooded park, 3 pm**

"Gah!" It had been a very long and frustrating morning. Clutching the base of my throat with my hands, I doubled over. I was quite the spectacle hunched over, leaning against a nearby tree in the park that I had taken refuge in. My clothes were ripped and spattered in mud, while everything else was covered in bits rotten food and other things best left unmentioned. I stunk to high heaven and looked like something that the cat would proverbially drag in.

Your first impression is probably, "What the heck?" Well let me make a few things clear. My name is Dulcinea; my dad had a thing for Miguel de Cervantes and his novel 'Don Quixote.' I have mint green eyes, natural honey blond hair with red highlights that is long enough to reach my tailbone. I am 5 foot 0 inches and am in pretty decent shape from all the running I have to do to get away from Brian and his gang.

While I tried to calm myself down and get my breathing under control, I thought of that morning's events.

**Running through school grounds… earlier that day.**

"Get back here you bitch!" shouted my irate classmate.

Freeze! That was Brian; he was the unofficial leader of a group that comprised of my classmates. They were also a group that had decided to unilaterally hate me. Well I suppose that "hate" was too weak of a word. More along the lines of, "you do whatever we ask and we won't turn your life into a living hell," direct quote. Oh yeah, hate was too weak of a word. Utterly despise and hope to enslave, was more along the appropriate lines. Okay you can continue.

"Bloody hell!"

Freeze, again! This is me. This is me running faster then I probably should. This is the result of me not doing Brian's and his friend's homework. Well I did the work, but it didn't turn out the way that Brian had in mind. For some reason he didn't appreciate that his and his friends essays were comprised of insults to our teacher instead of a compare and contrast on a well known historical play. Who knew that it would get him all riled up?

It's not like I didn't enjoy doing the extra work, I knew most of my subjects better then anyone in the class, the teacher too sometimes…I would have too given how many times I ended up doing any particular assignment. That however wasn't the problem. The problem was that now Brian wanted to kill me or seriously maim, whatever came first, because of the trouble I got him and his gang in. Okay, on with the chase scene!

"Serves him right too," I muttered under my breath and instantly regretted it. I could just feel my throat tightening up. It was getting harder to breath; I needed to get away from here.

I was now down the street from the school and running hell bent toward the local park. It was heavily wooded but I knew parts of it like the back of my hand. This leads us to where you all came in on me. Hunched over, fighting to keep calm enough to breath. The last thing I needed to do was to panic.

**In a heavily wooded park, 3 pm…again**

"_Alright,"_ I thought to myself, what do I do and do not have going for me. I have an enraged bunch of idiots after me; mistake number one. I didn't have my inhaler on me; it was in my bag at school, mistake number two. I didn't have my cell phone on me; it was also in that bag, mistake number three. No one knew what was going on, and if they did, well they weren't going to do anything about it. Nobody could financially afford to care about an orphan where I lived.

Musings aside, I had gotten myself under control again and was looking around to see if I had lost my lovely escort.

"Great," I muttered out loud, of course I hadn't. They had just gotten a little lost. With a sigh I pushed myself away from the tree and began to jog deeper into the forest.

After jogging for a few minutes, I had slowed down to a walk and had started to look for hiding places. The forest was thick with various pine trees and low shrubs. It was hilly and covered in rocks. We were in the Rocky Mountains and our little town was purely military, mining and livestock.

As such most of the mountains were in the town one could say. It was defiantly what you thought of when one thought of a mountain get away. No tall buildings, all stores were single story and looked liked throwback western general stores. Most people lived outside of town, on base or in the small amount of apartments in town. If there were more then 5,000 people that weren't living on base, it would be a miracle.

This ultimately meant that it was very easy to get outside of the city limits if you got into one of the so called parks, like I had. I was starting to suspect that I was a fair distance from home. That decided, I decided to stop and began to look around the little clearing of trees that I had come too. It was getting late in the day and I couldn't hear my escort anymore. I sighed in relief and started to turn back the way I had come.

I was able to take about two steps when I heard something move and snuffle behind me. Thinking it was some loose livestock; I turned around slowly to not startle it and got the shock of my life. Blackness quickly followed.

**Some time later at an unknown location**

"Is this the girl?" the lab technician asked.

The sudden noise awoke me. I flicked my eyes open, saw two people and then quickly closed them. I had a pounding headache and my throat was dry but I decided that being quiet was a better option then sitting up and demanding information. Besides I couldn't sit up even if I wanted too. There were straps holding me down on the table. Also it looked like I had been strip searched. I was wearing a set of clothes that consisted of a generic white top, loose pants and no shoes. However, I was relatively clean now. Nothing but a long soak and harsh scrub was going to make me fit for company though.

"Yes, her father was the original test subject so she should be carrying the correct genes." The man in the unremarkable suit said bluntly. "_What the hell?" _I thought to myself.

"I see," the tech. replied stoically. "I will do the necessary tests to confirm her status."

"As you wish," the man replied. "We require her presence in two hours." Then the man turned around and left the room. I could hear his footsteps fade away until the door slowly shut behind him.

"You can open your eyes now girl. I know you're awake." The tech said gloatingly.

"_So much for that,"_ I thought to myself as I opened my eyes and glared with all that I could at the tech.

"Oh come now, this isn't so bad. You aren't hurt and this will take no time at all." He said as I watched him putter around the white room.

It was covered, floor to ceiling, with laboratory and medical equipment. "After all," he said finally, as he walked over to me, "we mustn't make you late for your appointment." He finally snickered as he began to draw blood samples from my arm.

He was right it didn't take long, but it hurt like nothing that I have felt before. I swear, he was purposely digging those needles into my arm. I have had blood drawn before and there was no way that it had hurt that much.

I was burning with questions, but decided that making the guy with the sharp utensils annoyed was a bad idea. I instead settled for silence punctuated with sharp intakes of breath as he dug those stupid needles into my arm.

Two hours later I was very woozy and the room was spinning. I knew that I had lost a lot of blood to this tech and it was not making me happy. Just then the door banged open and more nondescript men with highly militaristic styled weapons marched into the room with the creepy guy from before.

"Splendid," the tech said. "I have finished the tests and she does indeed carry all the genes that we require and then some. There seems to have been some mutations. Actually there were mutations on all of the genes, more then we predicted," he said sounding annoyed. "It could have possibly occurred when she hit puberty. Her other older blood samples are nothing like these." He finished thoughtfully.

"Will it hamper the device?" creepy guy asked.

"No…yes…I don't know for sure. It could and it could not. I would need to run more tests," He then grimaced, "however we don't have time for that. It would take at least four years to set up another opportunity to complete the project."

"Fine then, hang onto those samples just incase though. We will use her anyway. As you said, we have little choice." With those words, the creepy guy looked at his men, made a hand motion and four of them came over and undid the straps that were holding me down.

I fought them as soon as they got me loose, but I was way too weak and it did not take much for them to regain control. Fuming, I let them put me in a wheel chair, strap me in and take me out of the room into the hall.

The walls and floor were all concrete and had single lights, high up on the wall every so many yards, casting an eerie glow on everything. It left much to the imagination as to where I was.

I finally asked them, "What are you going to do with me?" I got nothing but laughter in response. Then creepy guy said, "You are going to make history!"

I swear. My day was the worst day I had ever had in history.

A short time later, we left the concrete tunnels and entered a very large room. It looked like a warehouse and then I realized where I was. This was the military base right outside of town, I was in the airplane hanger, but there were no airplanes.

In the center on of the room there were these ray gun looking things, (I swear they looked like someone stole them from a cartoon.) and they were, all four of them, pointed at a small platform in the middle of the room. It didn't take a genius to figure out where I was going. The parts of the room not devoted to the ray guns were covered in computers, monitors, screens, gadgets, gizmos and people.

Sure enough the men put me up on the platform, wheelchair and all, and backed away from the ray gun things. I immediately started to struggle, but it was no use, I was still too weak. Then some static like noise made me look up and I saw the ray guns start to glow. They were glowing brighter with every passing second. Lightening bolts were starting to leap from ray gun to ray gun. Then there was silence. The light stopped, in fact the whole building was dark and then there was this incredibly bright light and I knew no more.

"Shit!" creepy guy yelled. There was nothing but panic when the lights turned back on in the hanger. People were racing everywhere trying to figure out what happened. What had happened was not what was supposed to happen. The girl was supposed to mutate, not disappear. It would take months, maybe a few years, to figure out what had gone wrong. The creepy man swore again, all those years of planning, down the drain. They would have to start all over. His bosses would not be pleased.

**In between **

Two beings were panting heavily as they looked at the girl they had just rescued.

The female entity finally said, "The humans came much to close to success for comfort that time."

"I agree," the male being said. "They are not culturally or scientifically ready for such a power yet."

The female being nodded in agreement. "However, what do we do with this one? We can not return her and she cannot remain here."

The male was quiet for a moment, arms crossed on his chest, head bowed in thought. "Either way, wherever we send her, we will have to fix the damage that has been done to her. Her body can handle some of the manipulation that was done, but the transfer here stressed it to capacity." Was what he finally said.

At that thought, both of the entities looked down at the girl, she was covered in blood and bits and pieces of her were missing all together. Their intervention had not caused it, but during the transfer all they could do was keep it is stasis.

With the same idea in mind, both beings stretched their hands over her and concentrated. They restored her to her original state and then added some upgrades. More like they awaken the upgrades that were already there.

"There, that should do it." The female entity said, looking down proudly at their creation.

"Hmm, now where to send her?" her companion wondered.

"How about?"

"You don't mean?"

"Of course, where else would suit her now?"

"You have a point," the male entity conceded. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," the female one said. They both stretched forth their hands again over the girl and she vanished.

They looked at each other once more. Both of them had sadistic smiles crossed their faces and lightening glittering in their eyes. There would be one hell of a storm that rained down on that little mountain military base tonight. For it was no military base, it was a cover up facility for a very wealthy research firm. Tonight every lab, building, and project that they had in the world would be destroyed. Tonight the humans would learn what would happen if they ever broke the code. Tonight they would learn what happened when humans decided to play with the gods.

**Konoha, our beloved heroine is laying beneath a tree…**

There was sunlight on me. I could hear birds twittering. The wind was rustling the leaves. It felt like I was lying on grass. It was very peaceful. Wait a minute! Grass? Birds? Wind? What was going on? I finally opened my eyes and looked straight into a pair of wide eyes with large caterpillar like eyebrows that seemed to take over half of his face. It was bare inches from mine. I promptly yipped…yipped? and tried to back away.

I succeeded in getting that face away from me, as it jerked back quickly, and then I promptly hit my head on the tree that I was lying under. Quickly grabbing my poor noggin', I curled up into a ball on my side. Then somewhere behind this strange person there was a voice.

"Lee, get away from it." It was a rather stern non-emotional voice. I slowly uncurled, turned my head and looked over toward the voice. The person that spoke had no irises and was flippen' 100 feet tall. I had had enough and promptly passed out…again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Muahahahaha! I have managed another chapter all in the same day! Now though I will crash. It was a little longer then planned. Maybe a bit before I post next, however I do not plan on giving this fic up! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing…but Dulcinea/Hotaru…to my dismay**

**Dulcinea/Hotaru: What's with the 2 names?! I got multiple personalities or something?! **

**Spiderlilly: Yeah or something, now go get to your marker!**

**Dulcinea/Hotaru: grumble…slave driver!**

**Spiderlilly: You got it chicky baby.**

**Konoha, the camp of Team Gai**

Sometime later when I woke, I found that I was in some kind of sleeping bag and I could feel a fire nearby. I moaned softly and slowly sat up. I immediately regretted it. My head was on fire! Not literally but it hurt that much. I quickly clutched my poor head in my paws and bent myself slightly so that I was staring at…my…little black paws…WHAT THE HELL!

Since when did I have paws?! I began to take stock of my situation. I was roughly the size of a kitten, if everything around me was normal sized. I was mostly red with white and black tips on my paws, tails and ears. I do mean tails. I just stared at my hind end. I had nine little tails. When they were close together, it looked like one, but as I had been sprawled, you could see all of them. I quickly came to the conclusion that I was some kind of fox kit. After all, not too many things are all red in the wild. Besides, the fur and the ears were a big clue too.

"No Lee you cannot keep it," the stern voice said.

I turned my head and looked at the other people around me. I froze, recognizing them all. I was surrounded by the characters of "Naruto!" I knew them because, like everyone else at my school, I had taken to reading manga at a very young age. Not much else to do when your life consists of bullies and homework. These guys were Neji, Tenten, Lee and their sensei Gai.

Lee and Neji were arguing over something and I tried to creep forward softly so that I could see what was going on. All I managed to do was trip on the bedding. Walking with four feet ain't exactly easy. I landed about a foot from where I had started. It was enough of a distance though to see what was going on however.

Neji was leaning against a tree, from his appearance I could see it was past the time jump. I didn't know how far past though. Lee was standing near him looking rather upset. Tenten was ignoring both of them in favor of sharpening her weapons, while Gai-sensei was watching the Neji and Lee in silence.

Lee immediately countered to Neji's statement, "It's a baby! We just can't leave it here!"

"Yes we can Lee. It a wild creature, it should stay that way." Neji said calmly. _"Sorry Neji, I have to agree with Lee. I am a baby after all I can't just stay out here. Wherever here is…"_ I thought to myself and then turned puppy eyes on to Neji to try and help Lee with his pleadings.

"No we can't Neji! It will die out here if we don't take it with us." Lee said loudly back. _"Yeah I could die out here Neji!"_ I thought at Neji, though it wasn't like he could hear me.

"Dying is apart of life, our lives and animal lives. Besides do you even have the means to take care of it?" Neji countered rationally.

"You have a valid point Neji," Lee had apparently conceded. _"Hey wait! I don't like the sound of that! Yeah I will eventually die, but I don't want to die now!" _ I redoubled the look I was giving Neji staring at him intently. "However, I will take care of this little squirrel with all of my being. My passionate youth will not fail me and this squirrel kit will flourish to become stronger then ever before!" Lee said while giving Neji his nice guy pose. _"Eh!?! Uh well I guess that works. I swear, if he does anything to me I will bite him!" _I thought at Lee for a brief second before I returned my attention to Neji.

I guess my staring caught his attention as he looked at me unswervingly. It was nerve wracking to say the least. This kid had no emotion on his face. Seeing that this was the time to plead my case I gave him the most pitiful look I could come up with.

He started at me for the longest time and then twitched. Wait what? He twitched and a small smile was fleetingly there and gone in less then a second.

"Fine, but I don't want that kit anywhere near my things." Neji said the moment of intense staring.

"_YEAH!! No wait don't!" _I was practically jumping for joy except for the fact that I took a single step and then Lee grabbed me. I in turn bit the thing that had a strangle hold on me, Lee's hands, and immediately ran to Neji. He was sitting cross legged at the fire by now and looked a little annoyed as I burrowed underneath his legs. I figured that was the safest place to be at the moment. The "Hands of Doom" wouldn't get me here!

Lee was making protesting sounds but I was not gonna let those things near me…the dreaded hands…I shivered underneath Neji, but he didn't remove me. He pitied me…wait what? I could feel his emotions. COOL! I guess if I touch someone I could know what they were feeling. Either way he wasn't moving me and I didn't want to be moved.

Lee finally calmed down when Tenten stepped in. Gai-Sensei was smirking as he turned in for the night. It had worked out well; his team was able to solve the problem themselves without his intervention. Neji prepared to take the first watch.

I felt the knee that I was under lift and I stared up into Neji's face. "You can come out now," he said looking as non-emotional as ever.

"You can stay with me as long you do not ruin any of my things," he said as he looked at me with his serious lifeless eyes.

I thought for a second and then slowly walked onto his outstretched hand. He lifted me slowly into his lap and I curled up in a fold of his shirt. This was the weirdest day ever. But at least now I was safe, I was away from the creepy man and I was getting to sleep on Neji! Now how many girls got to say that and live?

Neji stared at the little fox in his hand. He couldn't help it; it looked so forlorn and helpless. Since he was on watch anyway and had decided he couldn't trust Lee to not squish it in his sleep, he let the fox kit curl up on his shirt to sleep.

The next morning I found myself sleeping curled up on Neji's sleeping bag. Neji himself was doing morning exercises while Tenten put together breakfast. Gai was nowhere to be seen and Lee was still sleeping. I was rather content to stay there and watch Neji until Lee started to wake up. Sensing that the hands were going to come after me again, I quickly dove into Neji's bag, curling up to hide. It happened to be right next to the sleeping bag so it didn't take much to get into, for which I was grateful. The whole walking thing was rather hard still.

Neji found me an hour later when they were getting ready to set out. He was about to put his sleeping bag into his pack when my head suddenly popped out. I had felt the bag move. He blinked, was about to pull me out of the bag when Lee came by and I immediately ducked back into said bag. Lee was calling for his squirrel and I had no intention of becoming his squirrel.

Neji looked at me for a second, chuckled to himself and quickly stuffed me down his shirt, put his sleeping gear into the bag then put me back into his bag. I had whiplash from how fast his hands moved.

Now though, I still had plenty of room, it was comfy and I could peak out of the bag every now and then to see where we were going. This seemed so wrong. I was having a hard time getting my head around the fact that I was a fox kit with nine tails, I could feel emotions when I touched someone, I was in Naruto's world, I just got stuffed down Neji's shirt and was now riding on his back in his bag.

I spent the next several hours coming to terms with those facts and that I was probably never going to be able to go home again. Also though, I was trying to decide if I ever wanted to go home if I got the chance. As I pondered this in Neji's bag, I heard a happy noise coming from Lee and decided to poke my head out of the bag.

There was Konoha spread below us. We were pretty high up in the trees. It was so beautiful. You could see the Hokage Monument with all five faces carved into it. _"Yep," I thought to myself, "we are definitely passed the time jump. Now the only question remains is how close to the original story is this apparent alternate universe." I mused to myself. That was what I had decided to call this place, an alternate universe. _

I quickly decided that I would rather try and make a new life here then try and get back to a place were I was not welcome. It was amazing how easy that decision ultimately was. I popped my head back into the bag.

Then my stomach dropped as my ride decided to jump out of the tree. If I was human I would have probably started yelling, as I could not do that I decided that covering my eyes with my paws and huddling in the bag was as good as it was going to get and dearly hoped we weren't going to go splat.

Of course this is Neji, like he would go splat. But that didn't mean that falling from a great height still wasn't going to freak me out.

When my human cannonball decided to stop we were at the front gates. I had by this time popped my head out again and was looking around as our team bounded through the city to the Hokage's tower.

In less then a few minutes we were in Tsunade's office but Tsunade was not behind the desk. Naruto?! Why was he there? Where was Tsunade?

The four of us, five including me, were standing there waiting for him to acknowledge us. After a minute he did.

"Sorry about that," he said grinning at us; he was scratching the back of his head looking slightly guilty. "I had to finish that paper work."

"Now then," he said, immediately getting down to business, "how did the mission go? The old hag asked me to take your report after you returned."

"Hai, Naruto-dono," Gai-sensei said, "The Sound village is in a state of disrepair, as well as Orochimaru's other known hiding places. Several scrolls were found though and we brought them here. The structures looked like they had been vacated rather quickly, there were…"

The conversation quickly went over my head. I tuned it out instead and positioned myself so that I could watch the faces of the humans around me. "_I can't believe that I am already calling them humans." _I thought to myself.

Naruto, amazingly, looked calm, collected and serious. It was so weird! He looked how I thought a Hokage would look. But it was obvious from the photos on the wall and his outfit that he wasn't the Hokage yet. _"This is probably training,"_ I said to myself as I pushed my head through Neji's hair. It was blocking my view as he had slightly shifted.

"_I don't think he enjoyed that,"_ I thought as I felt Neji tense up. My paws were on the base of his neck and my whiskers were just touching his ear. His pack was mostly covered in his long black hair. That meant I was covered with his hair. I had to push through it if I wanted to see anything. Then I felt like I wanted to giggle…wait, why would I want to giggle? My head twitched to the side as I tried to figure this new situation out and the feeling got stronger. AHHH! I realized the problem and snickered to myself….Neji was ticklish!

Deciding that having him giggle out loud during a debriefing was not the way to stay on his good side and it would damage his pride, so I moved my head a bit and let Neji relax. I could tell he was itching to shove me back into the bag but he wasn't quite sure how to do it without calling attention to us.

I grinned to myself and settled down again to watch the proceedings.

"I see," Naruto was saying, "You did a good job. I will see that the old lady will get your reports and then she will give you further orders if she deems it necessary. Until that time however, there are no other pressing missions. You have all earned a break. I have been authorized to give you all a week off paid vacation." Naruto said grinning at us. "You guys deserve it. However, the Chunnin exams will be here in three weeks. After your vacation you will all report back here for assignments. Dismissed." Naruto said still grinning at us.

"Hai!" was the unified reply and we all left Naruto to his paper work. He was muttering about old ladies, drinking, gambling and hangovers, and how she was doing it on purpose as we were walking out the door. Thanks to my now superior hearing, I could still hear him as we walked down the hall.

When we were outside the building, Gai-sensei turned to us and said, "Yosh! You all did good work; now go enjoy your week off. The chunnin exams will require all of us to put forth a great amount of effort. Now Lee-san, I will hop around the village 100 times on one foot! If I can't do that, then I will do it again on my hands! Are you with me?!" He roared at his students.

Tenten was slowly creeping away, and I could feel Neji struggling to not whack both of them upside their heads.

"Of course Gai-sensei! How could I not be? I will gladly join you and vow to do twice that amount if you fail! Our youth will drive us forward!" proclaimed Lee just as loudly as both him and his sensei ran off to do just that.

If I could die from twitching I would be floating among the angles right about now and don't even mention my poor ears.

Neji, of course had other ideas and when he had walked far enough away from the Hokage's tower, he quickly grabbed his bag off of his back, me off of his shoulder and stuffed me in it. _"I guess he doesn't like to be tickled..." _I thought to myself. Then with an audible thump, he had swung his bag back onto his back…and yes that did hurt…I could feel us flying through the air seconds later. _"We must be going back to the Hyuga compound," _I thought as curled back into a ball.

When we landed, I could here all sorts of people talking around us. It sounded like a court yard, but I couldn't make anything out. The –sama this and that though was enough to tell me that I was at the main house.

I was feeling rather tired and was almost lulled to sleep by the gentle sway of the bag when I heard the pounding of feet and then something grabbed Neji and consequently me, as I was on his back, and then proceeded to squeeze the life out of us. It abruptly let go though before I decided my life was over and then before I could recover I got pounded into Neji's back. What the heck was going on?!

I poked my head out of the bag and was going to give whoever had done that a piece of my mind when I saw that a little girl had run and apparently leaped into Neji's arms and was proceeding to tell him all about her day. I was in shock. It looked like Hanabi! What the heck was she doing? Was this universe so different then the one that I had read about? Why wasn't she acting like she had a stick wedged where the sun don't shine?

This was way too weird. Maybe the Hyuga weren't as stuck up as they were back where I was from I mused as I popped my head back into the bag.

"Hanabi-san! What do you think you are doing? We still have practice!" was what I heard seconds later. Guess I spoke too soon. Head back out of the bag I stared at a rather irate Hinata. That was just weird. Maybe they had swapped personalities?

While I was pondering this, Neji calmed down Hinata, promised Hanabi they would talk later and left the two to their own devices. I had popped back into the bag and was trying to wrap my head around these new developments. If anything else changed I was going to go insane trying to figure everything out.

A minute later I felt the bag get lowered to the ground. I couldn't hear anything around us and the top of the bag opened. As I looked up at Neji, he reached down gently with both hands and picked me up like you would pick up a small child. My hind legs and tails were dangling as he lifted me up to his eyes.

"Byakugan!" Was what he said and proceeded to stare at me intently.

"_Great,"_ I thought, _"he is going to see that I have 9 tails, that I probably have the weirdest chakra system outside of Naruto and then decide to squish me."_

"Good, you don't have any fleas or any other parasites and you aren't injured." Was what he concluded as he tucked me into his arm and carried me to the bed where he set me down.

If it were possible for me to fall anime style I would have done it. That just about scared the 9 tails off of me. I decided to opt for curling up and watched him unpack, go through some mail and messages and then did some calming exercises. Some time after he had started I fell asleep. Very content to be on the blanket, I did not want to contemplate how certain characters were acting or not acting, I did not want to contemplate why I was a fox, or the fact that Naruto was filling in as Hokage…this was a strange world indeed. With those last thoughts on my mind I fell asleep to the sound of Neji doing his exercises.

A while later I awoke to the smell of something good under my nose. I quickly opened my eyes and saw that Neji had a bowl of little bitty slices of raw fish in a small bowl. Realizing that I hadn't eaten in a couple of days, I practically jumped at it, devouring as much as I could. I didn't get the chance to get much though as Neji swiftly picked me up by the scruff of my neck and said, "Go slower."

When someone that is easily 10 times as big as you are tells you to go slower…you go slower. I swallowed my mouthful and yipped plaintively at him and he put me down. I restarted on the bowl and went a lot slower.

"Now then," he said as he sat beside me on the bed, watching me eat, "What am I to do with you? It's fairly obvious you won't survive in the wild and giving you to Lee-san is cruel and unusual punishment. I guess I will have to keep you until I find a better option."

When he had started to speak I had mostly ignored it until he said "…giving you to Lee-san is cruel and unusual punishment…" At that statement though, I was all ears and had stopped eating, looking up at him instead, trying to read his expression.

"Well I guess I will have to call you something until then," he then picked me up and put me in the most embarrassing and humiliating position I had ever been in. He was looking underneath my tail. I just about died from embarrassment. "How about I call you Hotaru? Firefly, yes I think that suits you." He then flipped me right side up and put me back on the bed.

"_Yeah! I got a name! Neji named me! Hotaru, that's not a bad name. Wait! He just turned me upside down and and and violated me! Also, why can I understand Japanese? Why am I just thinking of this now? Maybe it's the whole animal thing, either way I'm not complaining. Beats the heck out of trying to learn Japanese by just listening to the people I'm around. And and and and he violated me!" _ The fact that he just named me and decided to keep me was enough to make me forget that he was also going to get rid of me at the soonest possible moment. Though it didn't make me forget that he just checked out my gender. I know knew what dogs and other animals felt like. It sucked.

"Yip!" was what I said. I decided to call it my happy noise, though on the inside I was plotting of ways to get him back for what he did. I then licked his hand and went straight back to the fish. When I was done, I felt this overwhelming urge to sleep and did just that.

Neji felt this strange feeling as the little fox kit that he had just named yipped at him and then licked his hand. When he had used his blood limit on it earlier, it just looked like a normal fox kit. But now he could almost feel that there was more to it then met the eye, even his eyes. Either way though, it had been in his exclusive care now for 2 days and it had not shown any strange behavior besides running underneath him, hiding in his pack and had taken an almost human interest in what people were saying…hmmm maybe it was a ninfox? It seemed far too intelligent to be a normal fox and if it was a ninfox what was it doing out in the middle of nowhere and why was it so young? Maybe that was why it was left? Maybe it couldn't keep up?

Neji was mulling over these thoughts when he noticed the bowl was empty and the little fox was curled up asleep on the bed. He smiled a little to himself at the sight and picked up the bowl and put it on his desk. He then got ready for sleep himself and moved the fox kit, no Hotaru, so that he could get into bed and then sat Hotaru back on the covers next to his face and went to sleep. He would puzzle this out tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**The rating is only for the language. I haven't done any romance scenes before, so it will probably be a long while before one shows up. As of now, this is without a question AU. It will probably not follow cannon…but other characters will not be messed with too much…maybe...Uh, Japanese words may or may not appear, if they do, they will be rather generic or mean something very specific.**

**This is for Tsuyu-the-Hanyou! My first non-family fan!! YEAH! You gave me the will to continue!**

"_Hotaru thought/voice"_

**Dulcinea/Hotaru: **Why am I sleeping all the time?!

**Spiderlilly: **Because I don't have anything for you to do yet…and having your body tweaked and reformed is stressful.

**Female entity: **You got that right…you shouldn't even be awake at all. So sleep!

**Dulcinea/Hotaru: **But, but, but….Zzzzzzzz

**Spiderlilly**: DANG IT! I need her! Where's my shotgun?!

**Female entity:** uhhhhh….I think I'm needed else where…BYE!

**Neji's room **

My eyes popped open. "_Where the heck am I?" _Was my first thought as I looked around the room. It was clean and bare. The window was open and under it was a desk that was also very neat and tidy. I then suddenly remembered that last few days and realized that I was in Neji's room.

"_Yosh!"_ Now all I gotta do is get off the bed, several feet above the ground and walk out the door…no problem what so ever!

"_Okay, untangle right foreleg, push up and put down left foreleg and now take step with right foreleg."_ I was doing pretty good…then I forgot about the hind legs and promptly fell off the bed as I was unbalanced.

"_Ouch, that hurt."_ Ugh this was not going to be easy. Okay shake yourself off and try again. This time get ALL legs up and then step.

5 minutes later, I was standing on all four legs. Yeah! Now to take a step…how does that dog down the street do it? I was trying to think of an old neighbor's of mines dog…if it could do it, why couldn't I? Oh! That's right! Back legs and corresponding front move at the same time!

Sadly again my logic failed me and I was nose deep in woven mats. _"Dang it! What the heck am I doing wrong?" _At that moment one of my tails decided to hit my head as I flopped around trying to stand up again. Inspiration filled my frustrated mind. I had tails too! Of course I had to use those to move around!

20 minutes later saw me moving slowly across the room. _"Left, Right, Left, Right, remember to twitch the tails, Left, Right, Left, back legs correspond to front…Haha! I'm doing it!" _Splat! I fell again…grumbling I got to my multiple feet again and slowly made my way around the room. When I was sure that I had gotten a decent understanding of walking, I slowly made my way out of the room.

I didn't really have a goal in mind. I also didn't know if Neji-sama had told anyone about me yet. Oh well. He violated me yesterday! He deserves to get into trouble! Hehe, wait a minute, since when am I this maniacal? Whatever, I just hope that that trouble isn't going to land on me.

The house looked very old fashioned with sliding doors, mats and everything. They didn't even have electricity. Oil lamps took those places along the walls. As I moved along, I came to a door at the end of the hall, it was cracked open and I pushed my nose into it to make it bigger. It opened into a court yard that had Neji-sama and Hinata sparing.

"_Don't they ever stop? More importantly when did they start today?" _The sun was barely up but it was obvious that they had been going at it for a while.

I slowly made my way to the edge of the walk way and tumbled over the side onto the ground. Picking myself up, I made my way over to them and found a spot where I could watch and not get trampled.

They were moving so quickly I could barely keep up. Neji-sama was using the traditional family style but Hinata was doing something different. It was similar but again, different. The only reasoning I could some up with was that she had come up with a way to fight that suited her and still followed the original style. But it was easy to see that it was still in its beginning stages. She looked almost rough using those graceful moves, while Neji-sama was anything but rough. Precise, economical, calm and utterly cold, he wasted no movement but looked like he was flying. Slightly entranced in the fight, I didn't notice a very large hand some down and pick me up by the scruff of the neck until it was too late.

"_Huh? What the heck?! Who picked me up? Can't they see I'm busy?" _Oh duh, of course they can't, you're a fox remember.

"Neji-san, what is this?" a quiet voice rang out. It was a very calm voice, but it was also dripping with power and authority, this had to be the one and only Hyuga Hiashi, head of the Hyuga clan.

The voice permeated the area and Neji-sama and Hinata immediately sprang apart, each slightly winded from their exertion.

"What is what? Hyuga-sama?" Neji-sama respectfully replied as he walked over to his uncle. Then he saw what his uncle was holding and felt a slight sensation of dread.

Animals, especially pets were not allowed in the main house if they were not destined for the kitchens, despite his daughters' pleadings. Although Neji, himself, didn't exactly like the little fox, he didn't want it kicked out either. He wasn't by nature cruel and it would be cruel to abandon the seemingly baby fox kit.

Hiashi was waiting for an answer and Neji was thinking fast. "I am raising it until it can be trained to be a ninfox. Its inherent skills could prove to be useful as it grows." "Whew…that had been close," Neji thought, he was still staring at Hiashi, refusing to break eye contact.

I was twisting around trying to look at my captor. When I got a look at him, my insides chilled, he was very much like the character I had read about at my previous home. I would get very little mercy here. Making up my mind, I was about to bite that hand that had grabbed me when Neji-sama's words got through to my brain. Ninfox?! What the heck? That was the best he could some up with? I really needed to talk to that boy.

Deciding that I didn't like the feeling of dangling by my neck, I twisted my head and bit down on the hand. In surprise, not pain, he let go, allowing me to fall to the ground. I yipped from the jolt of landing and scrambled to get behind Neji-sama, I didn't need to go far as the both of them were rather close now. This was a blessing as I hadn't managed to figure out how to move quickly yet. The end result though was less then flattering, I had ended up tumbling behind him very much out of control.

"Is that so?" Hiashi replied calmly. "You want to train a runt of a fox, that can't walk properly or detect approaching ninja, to be a ninfox? A fox that didn't even notice that I was following it down the hall?" He stared expectantly at his nephew.

"_Well when you say it that way…and and and I was concentrating on walking! So take that!" _I thought to myself, feeling slightly insulted and ashamed that I didn't even know he was there.

"Yes I do. Its size will not be a hindrance for information gathering and it is still very young, it will take time to train the creature, time that will not hinder my other duties." Replied Neji-sama just as calmly. "If it is unsuited to the task, it will be disposed of."

"_Disposed of?! What the heck does he think I am? Some weapon that he can just throw away? And WHO said that I would want to be trained in the first place?!" _

Hiashi stared at his nephew for a moment, mulling over his answer. It was true that the boy was very gifted, a genius even. He had even managed to hold the family together so many years ago. Perhaps allowing him to create his own fighting style would be a good reward, it wasn't as if Neji didn't know how to use the family style. He learned, by himself, Main House jutsu that he shouldn't have been able to do. Besides, Hinata, his own daughter, had created her very own version of the Main house style. Perhaps this generation was all about change. The council wouldn't like it, but they didn't like a lot of things. Whether he liked it or not, the boy was right, the fox would help him gather any information, and if trained right, be the nose to Neji's eyes.

"Very well. If your duties are found lacking, the fox leaves, if it is found in other parts of the house not designated for training, the fox leaves, if its presences is marked with odor, sight or sound, the fox leaves. Understood?" Hiashi waited for a response from his nephew and after a pointed stare at the creature hiding behind Neji's feet, he turned around and walked back into the house.

"_Personally I though most of those rules were specifically directed at me…not sure what gave me that idea though…" _I looked up at Neji-sama. He was looking at me with an unreadable expression. I gulped and huddled down when he bent over and picked me up. Hinata had yet to make a sound.

"N-Neji-kun, w-when did you get it?" Hinata softly asked as she stared at the adorable little thing in her cousin's arms.

At her voiced question I turned and looked at her startled. Where was the little hellion that had appeared earlier? Maybe she was only that fired up around her sister? Who knows…I promised myself that I wasn't going to try and puzzle this things out…my brain hurt enough already.

Neji sighed and clearly annoyed said, "I found it coming back from my last mission. More appropriately, Lee-san found it, but it would have been cruel to leave it with him so I took it. I hadn't planned on keeping it, but now I have too."

"Ahh," was all she said still staring at me. To tell the truth it was starting to freak me out. I can sooo empathize with those poor animals at pet stores, its creepy being stared at!

I was moving again, this time Neji-sama was looking at me in the eye and very sternly said, "First lesson, stamina, or in this case, learning how to walk. We may need to take a trip to see Kiba-san."

"_Wait! NO! That mutt of his can eat me in one gulp! And I can walk just fine thank you very much. Who ever said I agreed to this training?! Where are you taking me? No, wait, what is that you are putting on me?! HAHA! Take that! And that! See I can fight too! What? That actually feels pretty good…Cough. Gag. Ack! Cheater! A collar?! A leash?! Why the heck is it yellow? That sooo clashes with my coat! How dare you treat me like a dog! See if I ever do anything nice again! You just wait and see you maniacal fashion disaster! Be careful where you sleep…I can't guarantee what will be there in the morning…Muhahaha." _Ugh, maniacal laughing this early in the morning is not good for the head. I was now musing to myself as I had very blatantly lost the battle of the collar. I couldn't believe I fell for the whole scratch behind the ears to tip up her head trick. Gah! It's so embarrassing. _"Sigh, at least I can see where we are going this time."_

I was tucked away in Neji-sama's arms as he leapt through the village toward the Inuzuka compound. My leash was wrapped around his hand and I had tried to get the blasted thing off but it and I were going no where…unless I wanted to choke to death on the leash.

A minute later we landed before the compound's main gate. There was a bell and Neji-sama rang it. A second later Inuzuka Hana, the resident vet came to the gate, the front area was the veterinary clinic and she always took care of visitors to the clan as they mostly needed her expertise.

"Hey Neji-san. What have you got there?" She asked us rather boisterously. I swear, that personality, it's genetic.

"Inuzuka-san, I require your clan's assistance. This fox kit requires training to become a ninfox, but I have not the knowledge to do so." Neji-sama replied stoically to the hyper ninja.

"Really? You don't say? Well let's take a look at it. It looks rather young." With that, I was unceremoniously plucked out of Neji-sama's arms, leash undone, and was taken into the Vet clinic.

Coming into the clinic, my noise was assaulted with the scents of dogs, antiseptic, dogs, blood, dogs, oh did I mention dogs? I was going through nasal overload. Neji-sama followed her into the side room that she led him too. It had an examining table and various other equipment.

"Where did you find…her?" The space being Hana checking my gender. What is with the checking gender thing? I mean really? I just don't see that attraction.

"The forest, she seemed more intelligent then the typical fox. She is almost human like at times. That's when I thought she could be of some use." Neji-sama replied.

The question and answer session continues as I was examined everywhere. I really do mean everywhere. This is so embarrassing. Then THAT was found, oh yeah, my abnormal tail or tails.

"Well you would be right about one thing. She is certainly smarter then a typical fox. In fact, I do believe that what you have is a Kitsune. Not a very powerful one, it's still very young, but it's a Kitsune. She's healthy too, no parasites, bugs or diseases." Was what she said, all grins I might add, as she laid out all of my tails in their numbered glory.

"_Great…let the hunt begin…I can hear the horns now."_

"How is this possible?" Neji-sama asked. I was doing my level best to hide on the very flat table.

"Well the only thing that I could think of is that his Royal Fuzziness, in our favorite Loud Mouth, didn't want to be alone anymore. Heck, the power radiating off of him is incredible in itself. It's probably attracting all sorts of critters. But don't worry; Kyubi's power will keep it from going crazy." Still, she says this like there's nothing wrong with it.

I guess the secret's out. I wonder if they all just knew or Baka! No trying and figuring out this weird dimension! Concentrate on the crazy lady sticking things where they don't belong.

"I see, so you say she has intelligence?" I can't believe he has no emotion in all of this…just "I see" what the heck does that mean?!

"Yes, she can be easily as smart as a human. How smart she is now depends solely on her age and that is an unknown quantity. However, as for being a ninfox, you would have to ask her. But as she hasn't left or done something nasty, they are tricksters at heart you know, than I would say that she wants to be your partner. Or she is too young to know the difference and is latching on to a replacement mother. Either way, you get her for life. You sure you don't have any problems with this? I realize that more and more creatures, such as she, have been appearing but that doesn't mean that everyone will accept her. But if you still want to go through with this, we can teach her the basics. Moving would be a top priority, then stamina, tracking, stealth and discipline. Think of it as puppy boot camp."

"_Oh how little they know…" _were my thoughts as I looked up into Neji-sama's face. He was mulling over the possibility and quickly came to a decision.

"Do it. Train her. How long will you need?" Again with the mask! What the heck is he thinking?

"Oh about a week will do it. We can get her back to you before your team is scheduled to help with the Chunnin exams. Our training is very intensive." I swear, if she could get away with it she would cackle.

"Acceptable." That was all he said before he turned around and made to leave the clinic.

"Wait!"

He just stopped and turned toward her.

"What do you call her? It helps in training." Hana quickly asked.

"Hotaru." Then I watched him turn and then leave the clinic.

I turned to look at Hana, she looked way too pleased.

"Oh we are going to have so much fun this week Hotaru!" I knew it…my life was over…I can hear the bells tolling now. _"Neji-sama save me! I swear I didn't mean anything that I said. Honest! I didn't! I'm sorry!" _were my last thoughts as I was picked up and taken into the depths of the compound. Struggling all along the way…she was cackling I just know it!

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Yeah! Finished another one! Okay, I gotta say, the walking thing was sooo hard to get right. I ended up crawling on the floor to get the idea of it. I mean seriously, since when do we actually pay attention to that sort of thing? Anyhow, next chapter will be lot more about the inner workings of Neji…he was rather stoic this chapter, and a little less about Hotaru. See you next time!


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for the reviews! They are the only things keeping me going. You guy's support is much appreciated. That said this is of course for you guys! Uh I have decided that during and after the 3 year training period that it would be officially AU. I will pay little attention to the manga after this point. I won't totally ignore it but I won't use it all either. **

**Dulcinea/Hotaru: **Puppy boot camp?! That was the best you could come up with?!

**Spiderlilly:** Yes you ungrateful welp! I could have had you stumble around the room a bit more…hehehe. And stop interrupting me when I am explaining things to my lovely fans! Or I will make you the clumsiest fox to ever exist…hehehe. (Evil chuckle)

**Dulcinea/Hotaru:** …sweatdrop…you wouldn't dare! I still have headaches from all the falls you made me do and its just humiliating not being able to walk right…I ain't a stunt character you know!

**Spiderlilly: **Artistic License! I can do what ever I want to you. Smirk…Now go back to Hana, I don't need you hanging around just yet.

**Dulcinea/Hotaru: **Evil vile woman! I will get you for this!

**Spiderlilly:** Uh huh…(hole appears under Hotaru and she disappears)

Hotaru reappears, "Spiderlilly doesn't have a thing to her name, only me! Muhahaha…you can't get rid of me!" Hotaru sinks back into the ground.

Author sweatdrops and mutters about listening to Beethoven and staying up to wee hours.

"_Hotaru thought"_

**Kyubi words**

**Hyuga Main Household: same morning**

Hyuga Hiashi was having a very quiet morning. He was contemplating the changes in his children and nephew do to the interference of the "Number One Loud Ninja," a person he now thought fondly of, who was also now officially "Hokage in Training."

All those years ago when that Cloud nin had tried to kidnap his daughter, which also resulted in the death of his brother, Neji had changed. He was no longer the quiet boy resigned to his fate. He fiercely protected his cousins to the point of insanity.

Hiashi thought for sure that the boy was approaching fanaticism. He was an empty shell devoid of emotion. That "Loud Mouth Ninja" was able to change his focus entirely. By beating a great deal of sense into the boy and into himself at the chunnin exams so long ago, Neji was able to fully realize that he could still protect those precious to him and fulfill his own dreams, he could afford to let himself live. Haishi also realized that his nephew needed to know the truth of what happened so long ago. Their relationship had greatly changed since then. They were no longer Branch family and Main family. They were finally the same family, even if they were still distant to each other.

That Loud Mouth had even managed to change Hinata. She was no longer the shy weak girl she once was. Though the traditional fighting style was not suited to her, she quickly over came her limitations to create a fighting style that fit her body, mind and soul. The council was furious over that but Hiashi put his proverbial "foot down." His daughter was finally showing a backbone, he wasn't going to change that for the world.

He then heard a sound that abruptly brought him out of his musings. It confused him greatly. Hanabi was still asleep, Neji and Hinata were training and the rest of the household stayed away from the inner compartments until after the morning meal. Therefore there should be no other sounds intruding into his peacefully quiet morning.

Fully annoyed and curious now, he stood up from his reclined position and quietly left the room. He walked down the hall with all the skill of a ninja that ruled a great clan. Power and grace surrounded his movements. The sounds quickly brought him to his nephew's compartments. What he saw surprised him greatly. He couldn't believe it, there was a fox nosing open the door and very carefully started walking down the hall.

It was so off of the norm that all he could do was follow it, head cocked slightly to the side as he studied it. It was very meticulous in its steps, as if it didn't know quite how to walk yet. Concentrating on them solely it was very oblivious to any danger that could sweep down upon it. It was obviously very young. What confused him more was why it was there in the first place. Animals were not allowed in the compound unless they were heading to the kitchens.

After Naruto-sama had returned from his training, many strange creatures had started to appear in and around the village, but the wards that had been put on the compound for expressly this reason should have stopped it. Unless. Unless it was purposely brought in, then it would have been able to pass through the barriers. Hmmm this required more thought.

He watched the little thing work its way down the hall to the door at the very end. Then pushing it open, it stumbled into the sunlight and fell off the wooden platform. He followed it out, still watching. It set itself down and proceeded to watch his daughter and nephew refine his daughter's new fighting style.

Deciding that he deserved some answers, he quickly picked up the fox kit, looked at his nephew and said, "Neji-san, what is this?" By its actions alone he knew it was no ordinary fox.

Neji just about died after he heard that question and the resulting conversation. This was NOT what he had had in mind and he couldn't believe that that excuse was actually all he could come up with. He had planned to give it to Naruto-sama or Kiba-san or anybody really. What he had not planned on was keeping the strange thing. He did mean strange. The little thing always focused in on speech…not other strange sounds…human speech. It also had an uncanny sense of survival for a creature that young. It confused him to no end. Now though, he was stuck with it.

In response to his cousin's question he said, "I found it coming back from my last mission. More appropriately, Lee-san found it, but it would have been cruel to leave it with him so I took it. I hadn't planned on keeping it, but now I have too."

Not really hearing his cousin he brought the little annoyance to his face and said, "First lesson, stamina, or in this case, learning how to walk. We may need to take a trip to see Kiba-san." He just knew that it could understand him and the proof was evident on the creature's face. Utter horror and fear was covering the fox like a blanket.

Taking advantage of the frozen creature he quickly worked to put a leash and collar on it so that he would have better control over its actions. The yellow color really clashed with the fox's fur but it was all he could find at the time the night before. A few scratches and bites later he had the collar and leash on his quarry, he had to trick it on but whatever worked was fine with him. He quickly set out to the Inuzuka compound.

After hearing Inuzuka Hana's announcement that the little fox, Hotaru, was a kitsune, everything clicked into place. Her attitude, her actions toward him, never leaving his side if she could help it, her very appearance all were explained in that conversation.

"I see, so you say she has intelligence?" I asked the vet. Thoughts were tumbling around my mind with no rhyme or reason. I was still thunderstruck with the implications. These creatures were very picky about their masters, especially with Kyubi so near. For this kitsune to want to be with him could only mean that Kyubi had been impressed with him. Also, meaning that Naruto-sama trusted him. It made no sense. What had he done for this attention to be applied to him? He would need to talk to Naruto-sama to have his questions answered.

Realizing that the Inuzuka had asked me for a final verdict I quickly decided to see where this would go. "Do it. Train her. How long will you need?"

Listening half heartedly I wondered if this was really the right decision, I could still dispose of it, declare it unworthy and forget about it. However, the thought of doing so, especially after what he had vowed all those years ago to himself, was repulsive. He couldn't do it. No future was set in stone or predestined.

The timetable given was surprising but it would do. After all I would still need to train her myself for her intended purpose. It is logical that it would be a short training period. "Acceptable." Realizing she had asked about the kitsune's name, I turned back and thought for a moment. I had given her a name, might as well use it as I was now stuck with her. "Hotaru." With that I left to track down a certain demon vessel, I had many questions, hopefully he could and would answer them.

**Hokage Office: Later that day**

Naruto sneezed. He was almost done for the day and couldn't wait to get out of there. The need to stretch his muscles was almost palatable. But before he could do so, a very familiar sight appeared in his office. Normally this type of behavior was considered hazardous to Hokages and certain seals controlled entry to the building, but he had removed most of the seals except for the one that identified the visitor, for they dulled his senses. As such, he knew it was Neji that was visiting him as soon as the young man appeared. However, he frowned slightly Neji never did this unless it was urgent. Urgent for a ninja rarely bared good news.

"Neji-kun!" He greeted his friend enthusiastically. "What brings you here? You are supposed to be on vacation."

"I have a very young kitsune rather attached to me and I would like to know why." Was what he very stoically said to the Kyubi vessel.

"Hmm, that is a question," was all Naruto said out loud. This was not what he had expected. He quickly internalized his thoughts.

"Hey fuzz face! Did you hear that?" he thought quietly to the presence in the back of his mind.

"**Of course I did. I hear anything you do idiot. Give me control; I need to talk to him. I hadn't expected this to come up so soon. Cursed immortal entities with no sense of timing!"**

"What the heck are you talking about?" Naruto was thinking hard about Kyubi's answer, he could feel the annoyance role off of him like thick fog.

"**The conversation we had several days ago idiot, the one that just about split our head open when our mind was invaded."**

"Ohh, that one. I thought that it wasn't supposed to appear for another week at least." He replied to his inner friend.

"**As did I. Now hurry up, I don't get to do this often."**

Several minutes had passed and Neji was staring to get apprehensive. Naruto had a very internal look on his face and had been silent for a while. A sigh then was released and a very feral looking Naruto was studying him. His eyes were mere slits; teeth longer then any human should have with veritable claws slowly tapped the desk in front of him. Neji knew that Kyubi was going to be speaking to him personally.

"Sigh, she wasn't supposed to be here for several weeks. In fact we did not expect her until after the chunnin exams." Naruto turned Kyubi looked rather annoyed. "She is a ward per se of Konoha. Now listen to this carefully, I don't want to have to explain it again. As all the kitsune on this continent pay homage to me, I pay homage to a greater being, one that is very rarely in this world. She has asked me to watch over this kit until She deems necessary. However, as they are out of this time, She didn't tell us when exactly the kitsune would appear. As such I was unable to prevent her bonding to you. I also have limited control of her as I have never met her or her ancestors before. I need to meet with her as soon as possible. Bring her here when she is done learning how to move correctly." This last bit was laced with humor.

Neji was stunned into silence by the knowledge just given to him and the fact that he had essentially sent Hotaru to a training camp. Naruto had an inward look again, but his smiling eyes reappeared. Kyubi had retreated.

"So," Naruto said, "that's the way of it. We were probably told about it the minute she appeared here." He sounded rather nervous. He hated not being able to control unknown forces that could threaten his people.

"I understand Naruto-sama. Is there anything that I can do to relieve myself of this kitsune if I so wish?" Not that he would, but it was nice to know his options.

"I'm afraid not." Naruto replied shaking his head, "Kyubi says that by now, whether you are near her or not, the bond is nigh unbreakable unless one of you dies. If you had left her as soon as you had met her, then the bond would have been breakable. Now though, there is not a chance."

Neji contemplated that for a few seconds. "Very well then. May I have permission to take this on as an official mission?"

Naruto stared at him and then laughed. "Of course, S-ranked pay I do believe, for an indefinite time. This, of course meaning, that unless absolutely necessary, not a word of this must be said. Being what she is and all, many foreign ninjas may develop an interest in her as she is not bonded with Kyubi yet. Another Kyubi in the hands of someone evil is the last thing we need." He shuddered. "You could always find an advantage in an unfavorable situation Neji-kun." He finished chuckling.

Neji saluted Naruto, extracted a promise for completed paper work and then disappeared. He had many things to think about. The least of which was what he was going to do with his new assignment.

Naruto sighed and leaned back into his chair. "Well this was unexpected," he said to no one in particular. "I think he will do well in this. He needs something completely unrelated to family to care for."

"**Amazing, you have picked up some of my intelligence after all." Kyubi chuckled, "He had better do well, for his sake and mine. I just got back into Her good graces, I don't need to fall out of them again. Once was enough, thank you."**

"What? Something the great Kyubi is afraid of?" Naruto jokingly jibed his inner friend.

"**You have no idea my friend. What do you think I used to be? I wasn't born a kitsune you know."**

With that interesting statement, the nine-tails retreated back to his slumber while Naruto pondered his words and the impending paper work. He groaned; he had been so close to leaving too! No wonder Tsunade ditched work all the time now that she had him in training. The paper work never ended!

"_Gah!"_ Hotaru went flying after she had accidentally sprung a trap. Her whole purpose was stalking and marking the several dogs that were hiding around the Inuzuka training course, of course that didn't mean that they would make it easy. Oh noooo they had to put traps, explosives, wires and who knew what else over every square inch of ground available.

"_Stupid training! Stupid dogs! Stupid Inuzuka! Stupid suicidal hyper mutts! When I get back to master, he will get a piece of my mind! How dare he leave me with this evil woman!" _Several thoughts along these lines continued to motivate Hotaru as she picked herself up and started in a new direction. She may have been hurt by that trap, but she knew where one of them was now. She chuckled to herself; her tormentor would feel the bite of her fangs. Even if she was small, there were several places in mammal anatomy that didn't require a lot of pressure, only a little prick. She would finally get payback. If she could survive that is.

Yeah, chapter 4 is done. It's a little later then what I had planned but here it is. I didn't realize that I had not mentioned the conversation between Kyubi and the Female Entity until after I had written this chapter. If it reads too confusingly tell me and I will fix the first chapter. Um yeah, writing Haishi and Neji is hard. They don't reveal much and I have to guess a lot but I think it works. Character feed back would be nice.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ehhhhhh……Sorry? Yeah, it got a little hectic last week, that's why this is late. That and I had to plan out Neji's punishment. Don't know if I can live up to all of your expectations. --; But!!! Here it is, the next chapter. Uh, I don't think I will do dead lines anymore, to much guilt when I don't make them. But I will try to update on the weekends.**

**Hotaru: **I can't believe you left me in the corner of your brain for 2 weeks! You have any idea how cluttered and unorganized it is back there?! Gah! I swear you have some things back there that should not be able to move around!

**Spiderlilly: **Huh? Oh! That's where you ended up at. I wondered what I did with you…hmmm seems like the plot bunny grave yard needs some cleaning.

**Hotaru:** You have a plot bunny graveyard…AND YOU PUT ME IN IT!

**Spiderlilly:** Hey…author here…I can do whatever I like to you…besides, you needed some renovations…TADA! Here is the new and improved you!

**Wind-up toy:** Master is wonderful…master is kind…master is all knowing…all praise master…

**Hotaru:**……………(smashes toy) I don't think it works that well, you should get a refund. (Looks innocent)

**Spiderlilly:** Hey! That was a one of a kind! It was so cute too….that's it! More puppy boot camp!

**Hotaru: **Hehehe…huh? WHAT! I just got done there. NOOOOO…..(gets dragged off…)

**Inuzuka Compound: End of Training**

Dulcinea was dangling by the scruff of her neck as they, meaning her and whoever was holding her, waited for Neji-sama to arrive. It had been a grueling week, but she could now out track, hunt, stalk and kill with the best of them.

Personally, she was surprised that she would accomplish all that in only a week. But after the first day of training, a lot of things had come to light. After they had started teaching her how to walk properly, many tidbits of information started to make their presence known in her mind. She suddenly knew how to do all of the things that they had been trying to teach her and more beside that. She couldn't execute the moves but she knew how to do them. It was like a flood gate had opened up in her mind. The first time it happened, she was literally floored and couldn't move. After talking to the various wolves and dogs around the compound, she found out that because she was a kitsune, that knowledge was already there, she just needed to know how to unlock it. In the end, because of this, her training had been stepped up several levels, much to her annoyance.

Now though, she could do just about anything in the realm of stealth, movement, tracking, hunting, and assassinations. She didn't have any real experience, but she was turning into a finely honed weapon. She then grinned to herself, a recent bit of knowledge were illusions. She needed a lot of practice, but she could now do illusions. The first bit of kitsune jutsu that had revealed itself. She suddenly stiffened, she could smell Neji coming and began to squirm a little.

"Haha, alright little one, stay on his head for as long as you can. Consider it your final test. If he doesn't realize that you are there before you allow it, you fail and get to spend another week here. Pass and you get to leave. Alright? Go!" Moriko whispered to the kitsune and then stepped out of sight when the kitsune launched herself to some unknown region of the courtyard.

Neji arrived at the compound at the appointed time and looked around. There were many people walking across the court yard, but his kitsune was no where in sight. After standing there until it was 5 minutes passed the appointed time. Being slightly annoyed, he started walking over to the veterinary clinic to have a word with Hana when something tickled his ear. Thinking it was just a stray piece of hair, he moved to brush it aside when he realized that his hair never came loose. Not missing a beat he completed the action and quickly grabbed what was there and realized that he was holding a rather rumpled and annoyed looking kitsune upside down by her tails. He blinked, that was the last thing he had expected. More importantly, when had she got there in the first place?

"Huh, not bad Hotaru. Even though you were caught, he didn't know you were there before you made your move." An Inuzuka woman said as she walked toward the slightly confused Hyuga holding the now annoyed kitsune still by the tails. "That was her final test. Even though she gave away her position on purpose, you didn't know she was there until she moved. I'm Inuzuka Moriko by the way, one of her instructors. She has many skills. Don't worry about payment. It was an honor to work with such a rare creature."

"Indeed." Neji said as he righted the kitsune and after giving a slight polite bow, quickly took his leave. As he left, his mind churned over the fact that he didn't detect her. This would be interesting.

"He is a strange one for sure," Moriko murmured to herself as she watched him go. She then smiled to herself, he was in for a surprise or two.

**Hyuga Compound:**

When Neji arrived at the main house compound, he quickly went to his chambers. He had not told the household of the real identity of his kitsune and he needed to take care of several things before they went and saw Kyubi and Naruto.

He sat the still docile kitsune on the bed and gave her a good looking over. Just as he thought, she was utterly filthy and unkempt. If he didn't take care of that soon, he would be breaking his promise to his uncle and that would be a disaster. A Hyuga never goes back on his word.

Sighing to himself, he got out the basin of now semi warm water, soap and brushes that he had prepared before getting Hotaru. He had a feeling that they were going to be needed.

Hotaru, watching from the bed, saw him acquire several certain objects from around the room, including a tub of warm water and a tarp. He was going to give her a bath she realized. What she also realized was that a week ago she would have been mortified, but now it wasn't an issue. Maybe, she wondered, it was because she didn't look human anymore? It's hard to be bashful over something you didn't have, she concluded. Just then though, something grabbed her, jerking her from her thoughts. She was about to do something regrettable when she realized it was just Neji. She glowered slightly, if she was on a mission or still at that evil training place, she would have been pronounced dead. She couldn't make that lapse in awareness again.

Neji, deciding he was prepared as he could be turned to look at the kitsune, it appeared to be relaxing on the bed. Taking the opportunity, he quickly picked her up, restrained her when she tensed but otherwise didn't move and held her up to his eyes.

"You are now going to be cleaned. Resistance will not be tolerated." He then unceremoniously put her in the tub and prepared to have to battle the kitsune to clean it. He wasn't sure if it shared the hate of being cleaned with its dog like cousins. But to his satisfaction, she didn't. It would have turned into a major hassle if he had to fight her every time she needed to be cleaned.

All in all the bath felt good, it was nice having someone to wait on you like that, but he was still going to be punished for humiliating her that way. Oh yes, it was going to be slow and painful, she thought as her master scrubbed out her fur. It had become very matted.

When she was lifted out of the now dark brown water, she now knew why dogs hated baths…her fur felt like it weighed a hundred pounds and the shampoo was over whelming her sensitive nose. Ugh, if she had to go through this after every mission, she would learn to clean herself, or not ever get dirty again.

Neji toweled off most of the water and set her down on the ground. She was only able to take a shaky step or two, the extra water really threw off her balance, and then she shook herself dry. Neji to her delight got the worst of it, him being the closest object to her. She snickered as she wobbled away, her fur now a giant fuzz ball of red fluff. The games had just begun.

Quickly licking her fur into place while up on his desk, she watched Neji send an annoyed look her direction and set about cleaning up the mess that the bath had created. Ten minutes later he had appeared in front of her with a collar in his hand. It was black leather without a single marking, the buckle blackened to hide its telling gleam. He held it out for the kitsune's inspection feeling slightly foolish.

Hotaru looked at the object offered her and then looked up at Neji's face very much wanting an explanation.

Seeing the Kitsune look up at him so questioningly he said, "If you ever find yourself away from me, it would be most unpleasant if people thought you were just a stray fox. The collar will tell all who see you that you are just a pet and if I need to travel quickly I will be able to secure you. It will allow you to blend in some what." That and it would set his mind at easy. Neji refused to fail at anything and the thought of him failing to uphold his duty to his new partner was unacceptable.

Hotaru took a closer look at the collar and saw that the clasp was designed to break away if she could get her teeth into it. Liking the safety feature and understanding that it would be bad if she was mistaken for a wild pest, she nosed the collar and yipped.

Neji was surprised when the kitsune in front of him looked closely at the collar again and then nosed it and yipped at him. Deciding that that was as close to a 'yes' as he was going to get, he quickly buckled it on to the kitsune. It fit perfectly. The little creature shook her neck, adjusting it until she was happy.

After watching her for a second, he addressed the other issue that was weighing on his mind.

"I have not told anyone that you are a kitsune, I do not think it is wise at this time. I would appreciate if you did your best to uphold this secret. There are many that support Naruto, and many that do not. Knowing that there is another kitsune in the village may spark many issues into being."

The kitsune looked at him for a second and then nodded. While he mused at that unnatural movement, the kits head moved sharply and stared at the door, a knock was then heard a few seconds later. Neji had of course sensed the person move down the hall; he was a Jonin after all. But he was slightly surprised and glad that the kit had as well. There was hope for this new partnership yet. He turned and quickly went to open the door. There was a messenger there with a letter for him. After he took the letter the man bowed and left without a word. After sliding closed the door, he opened the letter and read the message.

"The council requires my presence, after I return we will go and see Naruto." With that last word, Neji quickly left leaving a slightly confused kitsune in his wake.

_The council needed him huh? Wonder what that is about. Anyway…now what can I do to punish a certain Hyuga? Hmmm?_

The kitsune cackled and set about the room putting her plot into motion. She started off by rearranging the clothing drawers and his closet. Clothes in one drawer would move to another. Objects in one place quickly found themselves in other places entirely. While searching his room, she came upon a startling discovery. There was a box of fuzzy hot pink pens hidden in the back of his closet. Why they were there, she could only guess, but she knew she could have some fun with them. Then she started in on his personal weapons. He didn't use them that often but he did take good care of them. She didn't move them but she did place an illusion on them. As well as all the other well used objects in his room. He would get a bit of a shock when he tried to use anything. It's amazing what you could make the human mind believe if you used the right stimuli. She chuckled to herself and began practicing her chakra control.

She could do basic mind control techniques like illusions but still needed to practice controlling her chakra. Squaring her shoulders, she looked at the wall and began to try and walk up it. She got several feet off of the ground before she fell down. This would take a while. They didn't really get into this at the training camp. Setting her self up for the challenge, she jumped up on the wall again and continued. She was still at it 4 hours later when Neji returned.

After staring at the kitsune for a moment, he turned and walked toward his desk and had planed on pulling out a pen and a piece of paper, he had letters to write in regard to the meeting he was just at. However, he didn't have the time to do it just now so had decided to make a few notes. He was rather surprised to find that when he reached for the pens in the cup that he never moved, it wasn't there. He quickly looked up and saw that he wasn't mistaken, the cup of pens was not where it was supposed to be, it had moved to the window seal. Blinking at it, he looked at the kitsune on the ceiling, but she just cocked her head at him as if to say, "What do you want?"

He looked back at the cup and moved it back into place and picked up a pen…however the pen didn't stay the same pen that he had picked up…he had a rather bright hot pink fluffy heart covered monstrosity in his hand. Neji's veins ran cold for a brief moment. He hadn't even detected the genjutsu on the pen. He quickly looked at the kitsune who was still on the ceiling. All he got from her was a cocked head and a curious expression. For some reason a feeling of dread was settling in his bones. He almost didn't dare picking up the other pens in the cup. He knew it wasn't an enemy nin. He would have sensed it. No, what worried him was that the pen wasn't turning back. Neither, was the very pink heart studded paper in his hand. This was not good.

On the ceiling, a very satisfied kitsune chuckled to herself as she watched the range of emotions flit across Neji's face. This was going to be great. She couldn't wait until he looked into the closet.

Yeah chapter 5 is done. Any idea's as to what Hotaru should do to Neji are welcome! Hehe. I look forward to your reviews. They keep my plot bunnies hopping.


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